The Rains
by Utsu
Summary: Rin hated rain. Did it matter if her element was water? She despised it. So what happens when she's stuck in the desert with nowhere to hide as the rains advance, her only companion the emotionally deluded Kazekage and his sand? Easy. Sand burial. Gaa/OC


_Konbanwa minna-san! This is my first upload on and I just wanted to say thanks to any of you who are about to read it. Reviews would be nice, but if you don't want to, you don't have to. I hope you all enjoy this. 3 _

_A GaaraxOC (at the moment) one-shot. _

**The Rains**

Rin **hated** rain.

When most people discovered this phenomenon, they were often baffled. After all, water was her primary element, and rain was made of water; therefore she should like rain, right?

Very wrong.

After giving said reasoning, Rin would hastily (and usually painfully) remind the informed idiot that although it was true that her chakra type was in fact water, her elemental uses involved **ice_. _**

Ice. As in; not damp, not wet, not liquid-y ice.

Many people might then further protest that when ice melted, water was left.

They were right, but Rin's ice **never** melted.

Want to know why it never melted? Because she never let it, that's why.

Want to know why she never let it melt? Because she hates water, that's why.

So why the hell did her so called 'friends' continuously subject her to the horror of the aforementioned experience (rain), when they were already fully aware of her hatred?

Well, because they were sick and nasty bastards, that's why.

"Death… Rain… Water… Hate… Bastards… damn goose bumps…"

"Oi, Rin, what'cha muttering about now?" A certain foolhardy puppet-loving pervert called, interrupting her train of thought. Good thing too, she'd almost convinced herself that killing them might be the only solution to be free of the up-and-coming horror.

Kankuro and Temari had decided that it was time for a family trip out – and for some reason, had managed to blackmail Rin into becoming an honorary 'part' of their _family_.

She knew they'd only invited her along so that she'd keep Gaara in check. Speaking of, said red-headed Jinchuuriki didn't look too chuffed himself. Rin wasn't at all surprised, for Gaara's hate of rain and generally water on its own was possibly even stronger than her own.

She truly understood his pain.

"Nothing much." She growled. "Just planning your assassination."

That caught him off guard. Rin was overly pleased to see the older boy gulp – It gave her a strange sort of satisfaction. Gaara watched on with an almost totally concealed smirk.

Only almost.

"Caught ya."

"What?" Kankuro replied, but Rin ignored him. Her object of attention was the younger brother.

"Gaa-ra-ra, don't you dare try and hide that grin from me."

His face went blank.

Damn.

After mumbling several _undesirable_ phrases under her breath, Rin decided that she might finally tune into the situation at hand.

"So… Where are we going again?"

Kankuro stopped his whining at being ignored to sweatdrop. Temari heaved an overly exasperated sigh.

"Rin, I thought I'd explained this already."

"I forgot."

"We're going to the beach."

"Why?"

"To have fun."

"Why?"

"Because we all need a break."

"Wh-"

"Don't you even _think_ about asking 'why' again."

Rin grinned at the older girl's frustration. They were intending to cause her future pain, why couldn't she have some fun, too?

"Why?"

Temari hit Kankuro.

"Oww! Geez Tem, what'cha do that for?"

"You're pissing me off." She growled, but her words weren't really aimed at him, they all knew that. Rin swallowed her laughter, attempting to cover it with a pretend coughing spaz.

There was a silence as they continued on.

"So… how about we go to the theatre instead."

None of the siblings bothered to reply, though Gaara did agree with the suicidal kunoichi's suggestion. He'd much rather sit through a play that would most likely bore him to death than run the risk of having to go into the sea… or worse, get caught in the rain.

"Yoshi! I'll take your silence as an agreement." She began to turn around on the path heading back to the village. That was, until a hand reached out at yanked her back. Rin stumbled, and would have most likely lost her balance had it not been for her red-headed friend. Gaara's sand rushed up to steady her, brash limbs brushing against the bare skin of her arm. Rin flashed him a silly smile before turning her puppy eyes back to the eldest of the three siblings.

"Pleeeeeease Temariiiiii."

"No."

"But it's going to _rain_!"

"It might not."

"But it might."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"No."

"Yes."

"Ha! Caught ya! Yessss! We're going back!"

"No."

"Damn."

Another half hour later, and they'd finally arrived. At the beach.

The only thing that Rin liked about the beach was the sand. But no, she couldn't even be allowed that little freedom: the tide was in and the sand was either covered by a thin sheet of foam or too damp to use. Kami, what a pain.

It wasn't until Kankuro and Temari had joined a few select other holidaymakers in the sea that an idea appeared to the slightly unstable kunoichi. An idea that might help her exact her revenge on the two naive teens.

Her instantaneous evil laughter caught the attention of her emotionally challenged companion, resulting in many raised eyebrows and quite a few tilting of their heads; so much so that by the end of it, Rin was one turn away from a headstand.

"What are you doing?" He finally asked, his arms crossed against his chest in that 'I'm way too cool for you' Gaara way that he had about him. Unknowingly handsome sod.

He raised a non-existent eyebrow, the bewildered and slightly exasperated expression painted on his face spurring on a sudden urge in the dark haired ninja to plant an Eskimo kiss on his nose – It was _that_ cute. But now was not the time for the call of her inner fan girl, no, now was the time for revenge.

"Ne, Gaara, wanna have some fun?"

Lying in wait behind the safety of several dry rocks, Rin watched in amusement as Gaara wreaked utter havoc on the beach. The sand may have been wet, but that served to be nothing more than an almost inconsequential obstacle for the infamous Sabaku no Gaara.

Rin couldn't help but think that he truly was wonderful.

Sand shifted in waves all the way along the beach, catching poor unsuspecting holidaymakers off-guard as they struggled to keep themselves afloat in the shallows of the sea. She felt especially sorry for those near the rocks, for all the grains of wet sand stuck to their body magnetized them to the clumps of hardened minerals, pinning them down.

All in all, it was hell; and the best bit was still yet to come.

Temari had somehow managed to retrieve her fan and had it on the full three moons, waving it madly to deflect her younger brother's now airborne sand from reaching a newly acquainted young couple and dragging them under. Kankuro had hitched himself in a net of ninja wire, and was lounging quite casually as the mayhem unfolded beneath him. Rin caught sight of this, and just knew that she had to do something about it.

Calling on her affinity for earth, the expert nin used one of her primary jutsu to add a minor earthquake into the chaos, causing the older shinobi to be jolted from his sheltered position on the rocks and into the churning mass that was sand and sea. He yelled out as he splashed into the water, and it was then that Rin felt able to put the next part of her _plan_ into action.

Glancing over to make sure that Gaara was in a safe position, Rin formed a concession of seals before pushing her hands down onto the water. It solidified instantly beneath them, the pattern of her ice slowly spreading out from where she was and traveling like cracking glass across the uneven surface of the sea. She watched on, proud of her work as her ice progressed to capture Temari and her new _friends_ in its glacial grip, holding her by the hips as she struggled to dispel it with her wind jutsu.

It wasn't going to work.

Rin grinned so malevolently that even Gaara was a touch unnerved.

Her masterpiece was finished.

An undetermined amount of time later, Rin found herself being chased around by two very cold, very blue and very wet sand ninja. She could almost taste their killing intent, but rather than scaring her, this only served to further excite her. That was, until she came face to face with none other than Gaara's older sister, Temari.

Rin soon found out that Temari could be a **very **scary person when she wanted to be. She also discovered that the violent blonde had a rather extensive imagination, and that she was in great need of some sort of therapy. It was because of this realization that she found herself running to Gaara for support.

"Gaaaaaaa-raaaaaaa!" She screamed as Kankuro ambushed her, holding her tight with his puppet; Crow as Temari advanced with an exceptionally heinous glint in her eyes. Rin was sure that she'd never seen the hot-headed blonde grin so wide in her entire life. She was also certain that she never wanted to see her grin so wide again. 

She gulped down her newly induced fear as her mind raced to come up with a solution. But that was before one was provided for her on a sandy platter.

"Gaara!" She shouted in joy as the crimson haired Jinchuuriki engulfed her in sand, whisking her away from his blood-thirsty siblings and dropping her by his side. Rin rubbed her shoulder in discomfort.

"Could'a been a little gentler." She muttered under her breath, earning herself a threatening look from her only-a-moment-ago savoir. Smiling sweetly, she internally cowered. _Oops._

"We're leaving." He murmured in that menacingly soft whisper that Rin had recently come to adore. She loved Gaara, she really did. She planned to marry him. She wasn't so sure that he'd agree though. 

Nodding gratefully, Rin skipped along by his side as he began to walk away, eager to keep her distance from his pissed off siblings.

Why is it that she was always to blame?

_Because you always **are** to blame_. Her inner fan girl chastised.

Rin had to give it to inner-Rin, she was definitely right this time.

They could just see Suna on the horizon when the first drop fell. Rin noticed it immediately, freezing it mid-air and catching it in her palm, her mouth twisted into a painful-looking grimace. They were at least three hours away; they'd never make it in time.

Damn.

She tapped Gaara on the shoulder, pushing her palm up to his eye-level to show him her findings. Rin felt a surge of empathy for the Sandman as she saw his cheeks pale – quite the sight to see, for someone who already had about as much pallor in their skin as a vampire did.

"D'you think we'll make it in time?"

He shook his head, and she took the time to send a glare back at Temari. Damn blonde, it was all her fault for dragging her on this farce to being with. _Although_, Rin added to her thoughts. _I did have some fun today_.

Then, exactly like the last time, an idea popped to mind. There might be a way to shelter from rain in the barren desert, after all.

"Gaara." She called. He turned back, stopping in his step. Rin caught up with him. "I think we should stop."

As expected, he looked at her with an expression of total indifference. But Rin could read behind it, and what she saw didn't surprise her, either. He was obviously considering the fact that she might have actually lost the plot. His trust in her obviously won out though, as he said nothing in objection.

Rin continued on with her plan.

"I think that we might just be able to hide from the rain."

It was at this moment that Kankuro caught up, and promptly burst into laughter. His sister wasn't far behind, still bitter as she tried to smooth down her frizzy blonde hair.

"Hide from the rain!" He laughed, holding his stomach to keep from splitting his spleen. Rin glared, and was about to ignore him and continue when he made another dig at her.

"You can't hide from the rain in desert! There's no where to hide!" His mini-speech was followed by another roll of chuckles – an action that Temari had now loosened up and joined in with. Rin couldn't decide whether Gaara looked angry, exasperated or bored.

_All three, most likely. _Inner-Rin commented, and once again, Rin was startled to find herself agreeing with her inner-self.

"Shut it, KannyKat, we've got work to do."

"We?" Gaara inquired, his face showing slight interest. Well, not his face exactly, but his eyes certainly did. Those light jade depths weren't always as empty as people seemed to think they were.

Rin grinned, nodding over-enthusiastically.

"Yup. We, as in Us. Me and you, bud." And with that last comment she swung an arm around his shoulder. Kankuro and Temari instantly sobered up, shocked by the sudden invasion of their brother's personal bubble. He didn't like people touching him. Usually. Even after four and a half years, they were still startled by how easy-going the young kunoichi was around him.

Maybe that was why he hadn't killed her. Yet.

Yup, Rin was just full of surprises.

"I don't need you two bums for this and I still haven't forgiven you."

Temari was surprised by her own flip in mood – something that didn't happen all that often (the surprise, not the mood swings).

"You? Forgiven us? You **froze** us!"

Rin sighed as though the weight of the world was bearing down on her shoulders.

"I didn't freeze you, Temari, I froze the sea." And with that, she pushed them off, forcing them to make their own way back. Kankuro and Temari glared the whole way.

"Good, now that they're gone we can get started. Ne, Gaara?"

Gaara was left to wonder how he had landed himself in such a precarious situation.

Meanwhile, Rin licked her finger and held it up in the air before spinning around twice and running back to the demon-host. "I'd say we've got about ten to fifteen minutes."

He started back blankly. "To do what?" He finally asked.

"Well Gaara, I'm glad you asked." She grinned, her eyes flashing with excitement, _and_, Gaara thought, _insanity_. "I need you to bury us."

It was then that he knew she really had lost her marbles. He shook his head, suddenly wishing that he'd left with his siblings after all.

"Why not?"

"It's suicide."

She frowned at the boy. "I don't think it is."

"We'll suffocate."

"Nah we won't, I made a new jutsu." She said this, pulling the infamous 'nice-guy-pose'. Lee and Gai would have been proud.

He could hardly believe that he was even considering her crazy idea, but he trusted her, and Gaara wasn't one known to place his trust in fools. More than that, he wasn't one known to place his trust at all. He narrowed his eyes.

"When?"

"Just now. So let's get going before it starts raining." She shuddered at the thought. Gaara figured he had nothing to loose, Rin was an earth user too, she knew what she was doing. Right?

He sure hoped so.

Shrugging, he gestured for the substantially shorter girl to stand next to him. Rin grinned a silly grin, excited to try out her new idea as she latched onto his arm.

"Just not too far down, okay?"

He grunted in affirmation, and that was when everything went dark.

"Damn Gaara, that was fast."

"Hn."

"Now, now, I thought we'd gone through this already.'**Hn**' isn't in the dictionary, and is therefore not a word. Because it is not a word, it cannot be used to answer a question and/ or statement."

She couldn't see him, but she could feel his glare on her forehead. She smiled at the thought and shifted, trying to get comfy in their little bubble.

"So, how deep are we?"

It was a moment before he answered. "Ten, twenty metres."

"Mmmm. Good boy." Rin reached up with the intentions of patting him on the head but missed, and ended up patting his nose. Ah well. Her hands then came together, forming a sequence of seals.

"What are you doing?"

"Shhhhh. I'm gonna get us some air."

Pushing her chakra into the surrounding sand, Rin forced the energy to the surface to steal oxygen from the air with her new water-air-earth jutsu. After five minutes of tense silence and concentration, Rin let out a sigh, having established their link to the surface.

"How's your breathing?" She asked her red-headed companion. She felt him shrug beside her and smiled. She'd actually done it. Her first three element jutsu.

It took him a moment to realize that he should have been suffocating.

"What did you do?"

She grinned, not caring that he couldn't see it.

"Nothing too special, but we shouldn't suffocate down here now, that's all."

"H-"

"Don't even think about saying what I think you're going to say."

He stayed silent like a good little Gaara.

It didn't take long for the rain to start. It began with the odd muffled drop, but after a further five minutes or so, had steadily increased to a rhythmic thrum. It was odd to hear it from underground; it was like hearing the drum of an approaching battalion, their feet sinking into the sand with soft thuds. Rin thanked Kami that Gaara had been with her; she didn't know what she would have done to hold out otherwise. The rain; she didn't only hate it, but feared it also.

Ever since that day, the day her parents had tried to kill her.

"Gaara?"

"Hn?"

She groaned at his response, but decided to let it slip. "Why didn't you kill me, that day?"

He tensed as she placed a hand gently atop of his forearm, but soon relaxed when he realized that she intended it to be an action of comfort. It was hard for him to accept these kinds of situations; situations that involved emotions and reading intentions through actions, it didn't come easily to him. As for her question, he could do with an answer himself. Why hadn't he killed her? It was hard for him to see, as he looked back.

"_Sabaku Ky-" A younger Gaara began to close his fist around his latest victim – one of his father's guards, tagged to spy on him. He hadn't been doing a good job. _

_But something stopped him, someone. _

"_No!" A girl called, pulling on his arm. Gaara was shocked; why hadn't the shield stopped her or at least warned him of her presence? _

"_Don't! Please!" He turned to glare at her and she flinched, confronted with a look of pure hatred and total pain. Her free hand reached the now half-clenched fist. She pulled it down, and for the life of him, Gaara didn't know why he let her. He should have killed her where she stood, obliterated her with his sand before killing his father's spy. And yet for some reason… he didn't. That concept alone scared the wits out of the eleven year old, and he felt more lost than ever. _

_The girl gently pulled his fingers apart, and he watched as **she** freed the spy of **his** sand._

_The man ran away, most likely to resign from his job and it was then that he came back to reality. She'd freed his prey. She'd denied him of his confirmation of existence. _

_He'd just have to kill her instead. _

_The girl realized this from the sudden murderous glint in his glare but didn't step back, she stood her ground. Shaking or not, scared out of her mind or not, she would not let this poor young boy kill another innocent tonight. _

"_Do you want to tell me your name, before you die?"_

"_Akasun Rin." She replied, her voice unwavering. She would not let herself be like the rest; she would not let herself be scared of this boy – he didn't deserve it._

_Gaara narrowed his eyes as he caught this resolution; she was no longer shaking and her eyes had hardened to ice despite their remaining warmth. What an usual girl. Even his father's most powerful ninja were afraid of him; the top jounin of Suna flinched when he glared at them. _

_But this little girl didn't? _

_Confused by his own deductions, Gaara did the only thing that he could have done. He fled. _

_Rin was left breathless as the so-called 'Cold-blooded Demon of Suna' left in a swirl of sand, leaving the dark-haired young girl both baffled and unharmed. _

_Something unheard of for the boy that had supposedly killed his own uncle. _

"You were different from the others." He murmured, his voice amplified by the small distance between them. He didn't wait for her to ask him how so. "You weren't… scared."

Rin smiled, moving closer. Gaara didn't tense this time, too wrapped up in his own thoughts to consciously notice.

"You didn't need anyone else to be scared of you, Gaara."

He didn't answer to that and Rin kind of wished she could have seen his facial expression. Did that comment make him happy, or sad? Had she made him blush, or frown? Her head dropped onto his shoulder and he sat taut. Rin rolled her eyes before jumping up and promptly hitting her head on the 'ceiling'. Another idea popped to mind.

"Rin?"

"Itai." She moaned, but then stopped, remembering her idea and hopping up again; only to hit her head. Again. "Itai, itai- Oh yeah!"

"Hn?" She let it slide.

"I got an idea." She burbled, crossing her legs. Gaara didn't respond to that, just internally hoped that this idea – like so many before – was not likely to kill him. After all, in such a confined space, with such an odd and not-quite-right person (that coming from hot demon-host psycho that used to kill for the sake of it) it was **very** possible.

Rin was totally oblivious, shutting her eyes and concentrating her chakra. After chewing on her thumb until she broke the skin, she drew a rune on the palm of her right hand in the blood and then concentrated even more. Gaara was, by this point, very intrigued; having caught the scent of blood very quickly in their enclosed space. It brought up the memories of the Shukaku and its terrible influence over him – not exactly something that he wanted to remember. He was glad that he no longer suffered from bloodlust; otherwise his crazy friend might have actually been in more danger than either would have anticipated.

Finally calm, Rin allowed her hands to form the seals before pushing against what she assumed was the ground, voicing the well known jutsu; "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" There was a small bang and Rin coughed as she inhaled a mouthful of tasteless smoke, wrinkling her nose in the dim light.

Gaara's mouth popped open.

What kind of idiot would have thought to transport a **glow ball **all the way across the desert?

Rin, that's who.

He didn't even bother trying to guess who… or what she had made a contract with to do such a gullible thing.

"Ne, Gaara, what'cha looking so shocked for?"

"You just…" He didn't even bother to finish the sentence, his expression of bewilderment one of the cutest things she had ever seen. Rin couldn't hold back her inner fan girl; she pined at him, cooing.

"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, Gaa-ra-ra! That's sooooo kawaiiiiiii!"

He raised the other non-eyebrow in alarm.

It wasn't until he poked her on the forehead that she really got a hold of herself.

"G-Gomen… but really, it's cool, don't'cha think?"

He stared at her, blankly. Again.

She grumbled something incomprehensible under her breath. Gaara could have sworn that he'd heard the words 'party-pooper' and 'fun-ruiner'. He couldn't help but wonder if the word 'ruiner' was really a word at all.

Rin lasted ten long minutes of silence before she broke.

"Ne, ne, Gaa-ra-ra, wanna play a game?" She chirped, running through a delightful list in her mind. Monopoly was at the top, closely followed by 'I Spy'.

"No." He deadpanned, crushing her dreams. Rin frowned at the vacating Kazekage.

"Why?"

"Because you'll cheat."

"Mou, I promise I won't." _Lies_.

"Your fingers are crossed."

Damn.

"I didn't know that…"

"Hn."

Fine, that was all just fine with her. If he didn't want to play with her, then she'd just play on her own. Rin shuffled so that she was opposite the crimson-haired young man before engaging him unwittingly in a staring contest. She could only just see in the dim light, but his blackened lids were plenty to define from the pale jade orbs hidden beneath.

Gaara found himself, once again, staring confusedly at the odd young girl. She was too busy with her contest to notice as his eyes began to acquire a questioning look.

"What are you doing?" He murmured, the deep chords of his voice making Rin go all warm inside. She tried to ignore the pleasant but distracting sensation, already using up every ounce of her concentration on the task of not blinking. It was harder than she'd originally thought, and she couldn't help but wonder how Gaara could keep it up for so long.

After another passing minute, Gaara began to find her unwavering stare a little unnerving and locked eyes with her to scrutinize her intentions behind this particular set of absurd actions.

Rin found herself lost as she gazed into those pastel green depths; she envisioned herself sitting on the mountainside near her childhood home, watching as the waves rolled in on the beach below and wishing that she could dive into the sea bottle-green ocean. Gaara sat next to her, his fiery mane standing out against the pale blue of the sky. His hand brushed against hers, and she felt herself blush as he locked his fingers with her own, their palms pressed against each other.

"Rin?"

Her focus broke, and the dream was dispelled with the shift of blue to lilac. She looked away.

Gaara didn't know whether to be pleased that she was finally being quiet in a non-weird way or worried that she was being quiet in a non-weird way.

It was a very hard choice but the latter won in the end.

"Rin?"

Rin gulped, her cheeks reddening as he said her name again. She was sure she'd heard it said more times today than she had in the past four years. Gaara was just plain confused and slightly worried.

"Rin, are you okay?"

She squeaked as his fingers brushed against the bare skin of her shoulder; much softer and more gentle than she would have previously thought.

Her inner fan girl was going into melt down.

"I-I'm f-fine." She somehow managed to choke out, feeling as though the muscles of her throat were closing around the words themselves as they struggled to be voiced.

Gaara frowned. She sure was acting odd. Had she got a cold? Temari said that people sometimes acted different when they had a cold. Using the dim purple light as a guidance, Gaara lifted his hand and placed it gently on her forehead. It was very warm, indeed.

Rin froze, her heart beating double-time. If this kept up, she'd give herself a heart attack.

"Are you ill?" He asked, puzzled. She'd been fine earlier, hadn't she?

Rin couldn't speak with his hand on her head, his skin cool on her own. She was almost certain that she wouldn't be able to form a single coherent sentence. Damn. Just damn.

She shook her head, trying to stay calm.

Stupid red-headed too-unknowingly-beautiful-for-his-own-goddamned -good Kazekage and his stupid too-soft-to-be-your-imagination hands on her head. He was going to drive her potty.

Wait, she already was.

Could you get any worse than just plain crazy?

His hand finally moved from her forehead, and Rin breathed a heavy sigh, only to choke on it as his fingers brushed against her neck.

Temari had always said that if someone was ill, it was unlikely that they'd only have one symptom. Because of this, she'd taught him to look for other signs; increased heart rate and blood pressure, breathlessness, dizziness, drowsiness, inability to speak or move, extra-sensitivity and a change in pallor.

After some quick tests, Gaara had confirmed that Rin was most certainly ill. Her temperature was through the roof, her heart drumming as fast as a high speed train, she couldn't speak, her eyes had glassed over, her cheeks had gone very pink, her breathing rate had increased, she hadn't moved at all for the past five minutes and she tensed every time he touched her.

Yup, definitely ill, very ill indeed. Or at least, that was what he thought.

"Rin, I think you've got a cold." He said, feeling very doctor-like and knowledgeable after all of his 'tests'. Had Rin not been so lost in her own mind, she might have explained to him that it was very hard, if not impossible to catch a cold in the desert. But then again, she probably wouldn'tve wanted to ruin his fun.

"Temari says that people with colds should stay warm, and rest."

Rin's mouth popped open as Gaara slipped his coat around her shoulders and then pulled her close to him, rubbing her arms to 'preserve warmth'. Little did he know that Rin was plenty warm already. 

"G-Gaara…"

Then Rin knew that she really must have been out of it, 'cause had she not have known any better, she might have mistaken the expression on Gaara's face for a kind smile. Gaara was yet to reach that stage. After his first 'change' he might smirk or make small smiles with her once in a while, then after his second, he might make small smiles more often and maybe laugh once in a while, but this, a full blown kind and loving smile was just too much for the already stressed Rin. Her poor little mind, used to such little affection from her crimson haired companion was melting down.

Every logical rule she had ever held about him had been broken in all of ten minutes.

It was just too much to take in one go.

She passed out.

When she woke the rain had stopped and her glow ball had been switched off. It took her approximately all of seven and a half seconds to figure out that the arms around her waist were Gaara's and that her 'pillow' had been his chest.

"G-Gaara?" She whispered, afraid to wake him if he was asleep. He wasn't.

"Do you feel better?"

Rin frowned, momentarily confused before she remembered. He had taken her shock to be illness.

"Uh, yeah. Thanks, Gaara."

She felt him nod, which was strange; she'd never been this close to him before. It was… nice.

"When did the rain stop?"

"Not long ago."

"I see."

Rin yawned, forgetting for a moment that she was sleeping on Gaara and snuggling into a more comfortable position. It was only when her groggy mind pieced together the movement of his chest and the tightening of his arms around her waist with Gaara himself that she remembered. And instantly shot up, once again hitting her head on the 'ceiling'.

If she kept this up, she'd probably have a bruise.

"Itai." She groaned, rubbing the sore spot.

Gaara laughed beneath her and she recalled the reason for her jumping up in the first place.

She blushed. "G-Gomen, Gaara."

"For what?"

"F-For… For…" He waited patiently for her reason. None came. Rin sighed, settling back down onto him. After all, it didn't seem like he minded her all that much. It was his idea, too.

"It doesn't matter." She mumbled, feeling her eyelids grow heavy again.

"We should go back once we're sure the rain has let up." He murmured, his hand moving subconsciously to stroke Rin's hair. At another time, in another place, when she hadn't seen him show such affection, Rin might have been in shock.

She doubted much could surprise her though, after this.

She groaned, yawning. "Mmm. Later. Sleep first."

He laughed a throaty laugh and Rin smiled. She was glad to have made him laugh; his siblings couldn't, and it made her feel special for being able to.

"Not just me. You need your sleep too, Gaara."

"Hn."

She was about to protest when his hold tightened around her, pulling her closer as every not-dreamlike thought vanished from her mind. Nothing mattered, in Gaara's arms.

As he carried her back, Rin came to the realization that maybe she didn't hate the rain so much after all. In fact, if these events turned out to become tradition, Rin might even go as far as to say that she **liked** the rain.

Then again, maybe that was going a little too far.

She'd just have to wait and see.

_Thanks for reading! Rin is one of my favorite OCs at the moment, and I hope to write another part to this fanfic in the future. Maybe even a prequel, after all, four and a half years in the skip leaves alot to be accounted for. ^-^ _

_Any and all reviews will be welcomed._

_Utsu 3 _


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